In overturning the immigration court’s ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit noted “the Court studied the demeanor of this individual very carefully throughout his testimony in Court today, and this gentleman does not appear to be overtly gay.” Further: “[I]t is not readily apparent to a person who would see this gentleman for the first time that, that is the case, since he bears no effeminate traits or any other trait that would mark him as a homosexual.” Because he would not be “immediately recognized” as a homo, the court said, he should have no problem returning to Serbia, where he was persecuted by individuals and pleas for government protection fell on deaf ears.

Evidently, you must give testimony with a lisp to stay in the country.

The Appeals Court declared “[o]ne clearly impermissible form of conjecture and speculation, sometimes disguised as a ‘demeanor’ determination, is the use of stereotypes as a substitute for evidence.”

Todorovic, who’s been in the U.S. since 2003 and applied for asylum in 2003, will receive a new hearing.

….can’t be denied asylum, but he CAN be denied an appearance on the A List.

Oct 5, 2010 at 7:31 pm · @Reply ·

alejandro

i did a paper on this a few years ago. this type of thing is more common than you think..

Oct 5, 2010 at 8:55 pm · @Reply ·

Enron

There are different types of gay and straight men. You have effeminate men who are of different sexual orientations. What this simply proves is that the judge is stereotyping a person based on some persons who coincidentally behave effeminate in our community. There are gay men out there who would make Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger look like two little girls at a sleep over. Its also a disrespect too in the sense that some persons who do behave effeminate are often conditioned by society. Physical Education class “he runs like a girl”, in class “he sounds like a girl”, whats up with the tight jeans comments, not to mention the famous “sissy” label. Because you are Gay doesn’t mean you happen to have a woman’s mind.

I just wish bs like this would stop.

Oct 5, 2010 at 9:00 pm · @Reply ·

Sceth

From the Article: “In reaching his conclusion, the IJ again noted that Mr. Todorovic ‘is not overtly homosexual,’ and, therefore, that there was no reason to believe he would be ‘immediately recognized’ as gay.”

Lol; I know straight guys who are more ‘overtly homosexual’ than myself.

The immigration department judge is a disgrace to his profession and ought to be impeached.

Oct 6, 2010 at 8:09 am · @Reply ·

PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS

Once again the Gays are subject to our own “special” rules. Is there a degree of melonim that a Black person must possess for them to be granted refugee status? How does this asshat determine the degree of “Jewishness” a Jew may need to be granted asylum. The laws are simply if a person is being persecuted and is in immediate danger to life and limb they be allowed to request and be granted asylym…..

Oct 6, 2010 at 9:07 am · @Reply ·

AdonisOfFire

I have a friend from Russia who got asylum for being gay, and they interviewed people who knew him and even past sexual partners to make sure he was in fact gay, LOL.

Oct 6, 2010 at 9:19 am · @Reply ·

CHIP1218

Well, I hope he gets asylum! The Serbs are not the worst when it comes to homophobia, but they are nowhere near the EU’s stance. Over the past few months as it became apparent that there would be a gay pride parade in Belgrade this year (after 3 past attempts), numerous anti-gay groups popped up on Facebook. The postings included instructions on how to kill gays, but Facebook didn’t do shit to the people behind this at first (eventhough some Serbs complained and reported the group), because they couldn’t be sure the translations were accurate. However, after I got a few dozen Americans to complain, Facebook closed down the groups, but their moderators started new ones and told everyone that they can’t post to the walls of the group.

If you see the videos on youtube of the prior attempts at a gay pride parade, you would understand why a known gay man in Serbia would seek asylum and be fearful for his life if having to return to Serbia.